Combined phase singularity and wavefront analysis for optical maps of ventricular fibrillation

Much of the research into the mechanisms of ventricular fibrillation (VF) employs high-resolution mapping of electrical activation and recovery patterns. We previously developed a method for analyzing electrically mapped VF patterns that was based on identifying individual VF wavefronts. We now introduce a related method designed to take into account the information on repolarization that is present in optically mapped VF data. The new method first converts raw fluorescence data to an angular variable that tracks the phase of the mapped tissue through the depolarization-repolarization cycle. We define wavefronts in this context as isolines of phase that terminate either at boundaries or at singular points within the phase field. These singularities are the pivots of functional reentry and are important determinants of VF patterns. We parameterize VF by constructing data structures that describe wavefronts and singularities and also maintain wavefront-wavefront, wavefront-singularity, and singularity-singularity relationships. We describe one important application of this parameterization, which is to identify, localize, and characterize the importance of occurrences of propagation block during VF.     

Polyethylene glycol in copper electrodeposition onto a rotating disk electrode

Many of the proprietary additive formulations that have been proposed to control the properties of metal electrodeposits include water soluble macromolecules. Among these are the hydrodynamically interesting polyethylene glycols ‘Polyox’. In the course of a rotating disk electrode study of the effects of additives in copper electrodeposition the present authors had cause to try the effects of low concentrations of Polyox in an acid copper sulphate plating solution. In the presence of an essential trace of chloride ion Polyox very strongly inhibited deposition below a critical overpotential at which current density rises extremely rapidly with increasing overpotential. These results suggest that below the critical overpotential chloride ions hold a film of Polyox onto the electrode surface and may also give the film some lateral cohesion. The film may be a Polyox-cuprous chloride complex. Striking spiral patterns form at the critical overpotential. Their characteristics are explained as the consequences of electrodeposition on a surface containing submicroscopic protrusions and depressions in conditions where current density increases very rapidly with potential.     

Statistics of differential rain attenuation on adjacent earth-space propagation paths

Forty hours of observations of the three-dimensional radar reflectivity structure of rain in the Montreal area were used to simulate the centimetre-wavelength attenuations occurring simultaneously over a multitude of earth-space propagation paths. The same data base had been used in a previous study which confirmed that the radar estimates of attenuation statistics are in good agreement with attenuation distributions measured independently by passive radiometers. Differences between the attenuations occurring simultaneously over pairs of paths to a common point at the ground were tabulated as a function of angular path separation, viewing direction, radio frequency, and system margin. These data are required for evaluating the possibility of interference at an earth station caused by a signal from an adjacent satellite. In this study, values of angular separation from 2 to 9 degrees, radio frequencies from 11 to 30 GHz, elevation angles from 5 to 30 degrees, and system margins from 2 to 10 dB were considered. It was found that the cumulative distributions of differential attenuation could be characterized effectively by the attenuation difference occurring during 1 % of the time that the carrier signal suffered some attenuation, but not an attenuation exceeding the system margin. It was also found that this characteristic differential attenuation could be expressed to good approximation as a simple analytical function of the system parameters.     

Difference in icosahedral short-range order in early and late transition metal liquids

New short-range order data are presented for equilibrium and undercooled liquids of Ti and Ni. These were obtained from in situ synchrotron x-ray diffraction measurements of electrostatically levitated droplets. While the short-range order of liquid Ni is icosahedral, consistent with Frank's hypothesis, significantly distorted icosahedral order is observed in liquid Ti. This is the first experimental observation of distorted icosahedral short-range order in any liquid, although this has been predicted by theoretical studies on atomic clusters.     

Improved surface chemistries, thin film deposition techniques, and stamp designs for nanotransfer printing

Nanotransfer printing represents an additive approach for patterning thin layers of solid materials with nanometer resolution. The surface chemistries, thin film deposition techniques, and stamp designs are all important for the proper operation of this method. This paper presents some details concerning processing procedures and other considerations needed for patterning two- and three-dimensional nanostructures with low density of defects and minimal distortions.     

Supershell structure in alkali metal nanowires

Nanowires are formed by indenting and subsequently retracting two pieces of sodium metal. Their cross section gradually reduces upon retraction and the diameters can be obtained from the conductance. In previous work we have demonstrated that when one constructs a histogram of diameters from large numbers of indentation-retraction cycles such histograms show a periodic pattern of stable nanowire diameters due to shell structure in the conductance modes. Here, we report the observation of a modulation of this periodic pattern, in agreement with predictions of a supershell structure.     

Robust and accurate registration of 2-D electrophoresis gels using point-matching.

Point-matching is a widely applied image registration method and many algorithms have been developed. Registration of 2-D electrophoresis gels is an important problem in biological research that presents many of the technical difficulties that beset point-matching: large numbers of points with variable densities, large nonrigid transformations between point sets, paucity of structural information and large numbers of unmatchable points (outliers) in either set. In seeking the most suitable algorithm for gel registration we have evaluated a number of approaches for accuracy and robustness in the face of these difficulties. Using synthetic images we test combinations of three algorithm components: correspondence assignment, distance metrics and image transformation. We show that a version of the iterated closest point (ICP) algorithm using a non-Euclidean distance metric and a robust estimation of transform parameters provides best performance, equalling SoftAssign in the presence of moderate image distortion, and providing superior robustness against large distortions and high outlier proportions. From this evaluation we develop a gel registration algorithm based on robust ICP and a novel distance metric combining Euclidean, shape context and image-related features. We demonstrate the accuracy of gel matching using synthetic distortions of real gels and show that robust estimation of transform parameters using M-estimators can enforce inverse consistency, ensuring that matching results are independent of the order of the images.     

Unified semi‐analytical wall boundary conditions for inviscid,laminar or turbulent flows in the meshless SPH method

Wall boundary conditions in smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) is a key issue to perform accurate simulations. We propose here a new approach based on a renormalising factor for writing all boundary terms. This factor depends on the local shape of a wall and on the position of a particle relative to the wall, which is described by segments (in two‐dimensions), instead of the cumbersome fictitious or ghost particles used in most existing SPH models. By solving a dynamic equation for the renormalising factor, we significantly improve traditional wall treatment in SPH, for pressure forces, wall friction and turbulent conditions. The new model is demonstrated for cases including hydrostatic conditions for still water in a tank of complex geometry and a dam break over triangular bed profile with sharp angle where significant improved behaviour is obtained in comparison with the conventional boundary techniques. The latter case is also compared with a finite volume and volume‐of‐fluid scheme. The performance of the model for a two‐dimensional laminar flow in a channel is demonstrated where the profiles of velocity are in agreement with the theoretical ones, demonstrating that the derived wall shear stress balances the pressure gradient. Finally, the performance of the model is demonstrated for flow in a schematic fish pass where both the velocity field and turbulent viscosity fields are satisfactorily reproduced compared with mesh‐based codes. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.